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Friday, June 26, 2015

Usually I struggle with sketch challenges but it seems this week I'm finding a lot of inspiration with them. This card was inspired by Freshly Made Sketches #192.

I've also noticed I've been going for mostly simple layered looks. I used to try and make them very embellished and beautiful like some of those really girly cards I see with tons of die cuts and flowers etc. For my personal tastes I find that those cards are just a little too ... busy. So I'm really starting to like just a clean layered look with a pretty background l ike the colorful present dps I used here. The silver layer is also a shimmer paper. The camera picked up a little of the shimmer but it's rainy here today so not a lot of light.

To finish up the card I just stamped the sentiment with black ink on to a strip of vellum and poof.. done! This set has some other really cute sentiments that come with it other than the Beary Merry Christmas. And you can even purchase the die cut set to go with it. I was going to die cut the wreath part and use foam tape but I decided to use some fun foam under the entire image to pop it off the busy background.

You know it is never too early to start on Christmas cards. When I saw Mojo Monday's challenge this week I thought it would be perfect for a Christmas card.

The stamp image I used is called "All Santa's Reindeer" from Unity Stamp Co. I thought about coloring the image but I didn't want to distract from all the reindeer names scripted around the antlers. I used some vintage styled dps from a paper pad I've had forever. I was going to add a sentiment on vellum but couldn't decide on where to put it so it would still look balanced and not pull too much from the beautiful image.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

This is my entry for Stamp, Ink, Paper challenge #2. If you haven't checked out this Design Team and the Challenge please do. They have some very talented people on the DT. I love looking at other's work in hopes that it will spark inspiration, whether it is from the layout, the colors, or the stamps used.

I'm a tom boy a heart so when I saw this image "Rebel" at The Paper Shelter, I just had to have it. This image is so me, tattoos and everything. Lol.

I colored the image for The Daily Marker's 30 day challenge earlier this month. I colored it with spectrum noir markers and it's been sitting around until I finally got inspiration from SIP's sketch challenge this week. The little sentiment banner I first rubbed Ranger Distress inks on some white card stock and then printed out the sentiment over top. A few snips later and woot... sentiment!

The image is from Some Odd Girl, Peacock Kaylee. I had it already colored from this month's 30 day coloring challenge from The Daily Marker. I just hadn't figured out what to do with it until today. I colored Kaylee with Spectrum Noir Markers and I also did the background of the tag with the markers. I must say Spectrum Noir Markers are my first alcohol artist markers and they are definitely my favorite product right now.

The sentiments are mostly from my stash of clearance stamps from Hobby Lobby except the Live Carefree one. Live Carefree is from Unity Stamp Co. set called Beach Girl.

I hope you enjoy this card and remember to always Be your own kind of beautiful!

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Seems I was in a birthday mood today. I can't even think of any upcoming birthdays but I am prepared none the less!

This card is more along my personal style with the dark and bright colors and also the grungy look of it.

This image is perfectly named Rock Star from The Paper Shelter. I colored it using Spectrum Noir markers. Because it was a digi stamp I sized it in Silhouette Studio before printing and then used my Silhouette to cut it out before adhering it to the card with foam dots.

You can't see it in the picture, but the skulls are actually glitter. They are a washi like tape I bought... from Hobby Lobby I think. Also the "Let's Party" Sentiment was a random one from my stash.

The background fish was stamped using a slightly darker color than the cardstock. The stamp is from Stampin' Up - By the Tide.

I was going to do a banner for the sentiment but I decided I wanted some circles! So after die cutting a few circles from coordinating cardstock I stamped the sentiment on two of them and then layered them on top of each other. I think I really like it!

It really sucks when you lose your creative mojo. Does anyone else have a really great creative week and then.... nothing for a while? I was like that for the past week. So I've sat in my crafty space and stared at all these colored images I had already colored for The Daily Marker's 30 Day color challenge and today I've finally gotten some mojo to get some cards done!

I've also found a few new challenge blogs that I'm pretty excited to try out. I absolutely love challenge blogs for the simple fact I get a lot of inspiration from the challenges. The feedback that all of you leave also gives me confidence to keep creating!

Well enough rambling, lol, on to the first of my three projects.

I used the sketch from this week's Mojo Monday Challenge to create this card. The stitching was created using a white and black gel pen.

The fish scene I watercolored on regular cardstock using Stampin' up inks and my aqua brush.

I used Lost Lagoon and Hello Honey cardstock from Stampin' Up along with some other colors from Recollections I bought at Michael's this weekend.

The stamp sets I used are By The Tide from Stampin' Up and the other is Big Day which was from this year's Sale-a-bration event. The fish was first stamped in Archival Watering Can then watercolored with Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey and a touch of Baked Brown Sugar. Then I heat embossed the coral stamp with white embossing powder over it.

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Did you know that Stampin' Up came out with a new catalog on June 2nd? Did you know that all the new stamp sets and In Colors are... AMAZING?! I haven't been able to order yet so I don't have nifty things to show you sadly. But that shouldn't stop you from checking everything out!

Here are just a few of things on my massive wish list that you may find interesting. Just click the images for more details or to go to my store and browse all the other new products. There are just too many to list them all here, even though I really want to.

Friday, June 5, 2015

How doesn't like to get the most out of their money? Especially when it comes to crafting supplies? By now you may know that I hate to pay full price for anything, but when I do I want to feel like I'm still getting a deal. This is one of the reasons I love my showcase for today, Unity Stamp Company!

Before I go on about this company I would like to state that I do not work for this company, nor am I being compensated in any way for this post. Unity Stamp Company is simply just one of many favorite stamping companies that I buy from most frequently.

Now on to the good stuff... Unity Stamp Co. have sales EVERY weekend. Yes I said that... EVERY weekend. You may be thinking oh it's a Saturday and Sunday thing. Nope! Their sales typically run from Friday or was it Thursday around noonish to midnight Monday! And when this company puts things on sale.. they throw a HUGE sale!

I know there are so many exclamations in this post already, but I get so excited about a sale. Every Friday my husband gives me that "Oh crap" look when I'm verbally ooooing and aaaahhing over everything on sale. If I had may way I'd make an order every single Friday, but sadly my checkbook says no.

Whew. I think I've calmed down now, hehe. It's time to show you my creation for this week.

I've never created using the one sheet wonder idea, so I figured why not try it out. I pulled out one of my Christmas paper pads from my huge stash of DPS and some cream, dark red and dark green cardstock. The template I used for the cards and the OSW I found on Pinterest and you can find the original post HERE.

These are the cards I created. The template I used made 10 cards and a cover for my box.

The cardinal pictured below was my Day 4 coloring for The Daily Marker 30 day Color challenge.

These first three images I used stamps from Unity's Kit of the Month for October of 2014. If you want a deal, their KoTM is a big one. It's a subscription and you get a themed sheet of stamps (they are mounted on cling foam and trimmed). There are always images and matching sentiments and they are always amazing. I have a few KoTMs but sadly I had to cancel due to financial reason. But trust me as soon as I'm able, I'll be renewing my subscription. It is definitely a good bang for your buck.

These last three cards, I used random stamps from my stash that are for different companies.

I think I really love this OSW idea and may just have to make more of them soon. But what good is a matching set of cards without a cute box to put them in? Again on Pinterest, I found this tutorial on how to create a gift box for cards. All 10 cards fit comfortably inside with the envelopes because they are basically flat and not embellished.

I hope you enjoyed this week's Showcase. I'll be browsing the sale and attempting to convince the husband it's a good idea for me to make an order this week.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Have I ever told you that I absolutely LOVE zombies and gory things? Well.... I do! I'm the type of girl that will choose a horror movie over a chic-flick any day. That is why when the little brother suggested I start making a few twisted cards, I couldn't help myself but get started.

Here is today's Twisted Thursday cards:

This digital stamp is called Zombie Chorus Boy by Rick St. Dennis. When I found Rick St. Dennis' images I was ecstatic, because he has some of the most wonderful creepy, gory, dark images. These type of images I find are really hard to find in crafting supplies. Don't worry if you aren't into the dark and creepy, Rick St. Dennis also does cute images. Hell, all his images are amazing and well worth a look if you ask me.

This is the first card I colored and put together, but I think I got over excited and put too much splatter stamping on it... just a little too much.

I went ahead and colored a second image and this time just dropped a few red sequins onto it and glued them down where ever they dropped.

This is my day 3 since technically I colored them yesterday, hehe. I colored them using Crayola color pencils. I found a colorless alcohol pen that is specifically made to blend wax based color pencils at Hobby Lobby, so I went ahead and tried it out today. Eh, it works okay I think. It does blend out the grainy look of the coloring some but you have to be careful to not press to hard or the actual color comes off the paper.

Well I hope you enjoyed Twisted Thursday and I'd love to see any "twisted" cards you make also!

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

I honestly can't get enough of Aurora Wings flower sprites. I find myself reprinting and recoloring these beautiful images over and over. So naturally when The Daily Marker's 30 Day Color Challenge started up again, I couldn't help but print them again and get to coloring. Personally I think everyone should color more! It makes me feel like a kid again and I just looooove to color.

Here are my cards I made this time with these super brightly colored sprites:

I colored the sprites with Spectrum Noir Markers and then fussy cut them out. I couldn't find a DPS that had really bright colors like them so I went with the next best thing from a huge Recollections pad I had. This particular DPS I think is in 5 or 6 colors in the paper pad so I think I may need to print more sprites and color them to match each paper color so I can make a whole set of these cards! They would make a cute gift I think.

If you haven't gone by The Daily Marker to check out the 30 Day Color Challenge then do so! You can join in at anytime and who doesn't like to color?? Check out her YouTube channel also, she has some amazing videos that shows beautiful techniques for coloring and card making.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Today is Technique Tuesday and I want to share this lovely paper purse. I've been seeing it everywhere in various Stampin' Up groups and other paper craft groups and I couldn't help but try it. I have to say... I'm hooked on this. It makes a beautiful gift for a hostess, friend, secretary, teacher, etc. There are so many possibilities to use this for. And you don't even have to include note cards like I did, you can use it simply as a gift bag!

I used the tutorial from StampingPro which you can find HERE. And here is my creation:

Yes the cards are kind of haphazardly put in there. I made 6 matching cards for various occasions (2 thank you, 2 happy birthday and 2 for a friend). The cards are 3.5"x5" and fit inside the purse perfectly as do the envelopes. This purse is actually big enough you could fit even more note cards inside without a problem.

Sadly the Stamp sets I used are either from this years Sale-a-Bration or retired now. But I can't help it, I love these stamp sets.

The patterned paper is from my ginormous stash of patterned papers. I have this bad habit of buying the value mixed packs from Hobby Lobby's clearance section and the paper pads when they are on sale. If you are like me and tend to horde all these patterned papers this is an amazing way to use them up. I think I'll be making a lot more of these little purses with matching note cards.

Tomorrow I think I'll be trying out some one sheet wonder ideas. But for now go and create cute little purses!

Monday, June 1, 2015

Well I've been MIA again, yes I seem to do that a lot lately but it's because I was redoing part of my craft room. Went to IKEA and bought some tables and legs to make a whole new work area. I'm so excited. I have soooo much work space now! And I'm feeling inspired!

My work station isn't the only thing that has me excited and inspired. The Daily Marker is doing another 30 Day Color Challenge! I didn't participate last time but I'm going to try and make sure to color something every day starting today.

My Favorite Challenges

About Me

I like to call myself a professional housewife and professional hobbiest because well that is what I am. I'm just an everyday housewife with a love for crafting. I've dabbled in everything from cross stitching to scrapbooking to card making. I've of course found my love for crafting in cardmaking and haven't looked back since.

My love for cardmaking brought me to Stampin' Up and I am now a demonstrator!